PM to inaugurate India's second multi-modal terminal in Sahibganj

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India's second multi-modal terminal built at Sahibganj in Jharkhand on Thursday, a government statement said.

This is the second of the three Multi Modal Terminals (MMTs) being constructed on river Ganga under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). Earlier, in November 2018, Modi had inaugurated the MMT at Varanasi.

The Rs 290 crore-multi-modal terminal at Sahibganj implemented by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will open up industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to the global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route, the statement issued on Tuesday said.

It will play an important role in transportation of domestic coal from the local mines in Rajmahal area to various thermal power plants located along National Waterway-1, the government said. Other than coal, stone chips, fertilisers, cement and sugar are also expected to be transported through the terminal.

The convergence of Road-Rail-River Transport at Sahibganj through the new multi-modal terminal will connect this part of the hinterland to Kolkata, Haldia and further to the Bay of Bengal. Sahibganj will also get connected to North-East States through Bangladesh by river-sea route.

While the current capacity of the terminal is 30 lakh tonnes per annum, the government has planned an investment of Rs 376 crores for capacity enhancement in Phase-II to 54.8 lakh tonnes per annum. The development in Phase II will be entirely made by the private concessionaire, under the public-private partnership mode.

The multi-modal terminal will also help to create direct employment of about 600 people and indirect employment of about 3000 people in the region, the statement added.

The MMTs are being built as part of the Jal Marg Vikas Project that aims to develop the stretch of River Ganga between Varanasi to Haldia for navigation of large vessels upto 1500- 2000 tonnes weight, by maintaining a drought of 2-3 metres in this stretch of the river and setting up other systems required for safe navigation.